Aurora Succession Game: The Gold Rush

[Zook (OP)]

June 15, 2034. About tea time.

Still no official news from Geneva, but inside sources tell us that Zatapatique has finally "acknowledged the possibility of spending more time with his family". He later added that this means he would be "temporarily accept the position of director of Earth Sector, together with his wife".

Still no news from Offshore Explorer One.

[Havear]

June 18th, 2034
In a press conference that shook the world, Zatapatique formally resigned his position as head of the UC, along with many of the Board. With so many suddenly leaving the company, Havear, UC's Director of Research and Development, took the reigns of the company. Upon formally being recognized, Havear told the world of the Battle of Credit Suisse and that humanity had made first contact with demonstrably hostile aliens. Under cover of the resulting uproar and after a damning internal report on the situation, Havear radically adjusts schedules. Construction of the construction factories, fuel refineries, commercial spaceports, nearly a dozen mass drivers, and the financial centers Zatapatique had hoped would solidify his grip on power were cancelled, or in the case of partially completed installations, ordered to finish it then shut down without beginning work on further construction. Over the next few weeks the industrial infrastructure of Earth will be retooled to provide additional mines which will be shipped to Titan as they (and hopefully the hulls to carry them) complete. Additional ordnance factories will have to be constructed to keep pace with Havear's planned munitions construction program, and the research lab construction will continue at it's assigned 15% of total capacity. Perhaps the wildest departure was in Havear's own familiar field of research, where he cancelled all active projects before consolidating the most important research avenues. Paulette Zatapatique-Bonald, a CP specialist, was tasked with delevoping the "Pyrodyne Systems 10-ton Launch System", a missile launcher that can throw a 10-ton missile every 60 seconds. Rurik Bogdanov from the Sensors department was working to increase the efficiency of active targetting systems, and Luc Buffet was working on increasing the capacitor recharge rate for a planned planetary defense grid, and fuel usage for more efficient engines of all types.

June 30th, 2034
Ansibles aboard the lifepods of the two geological survey ships destroyed in Credit Suisse finally shut down for the last time, marking the end of the lifepods endurance. An official period of mourning is put into effect for Capitaine de fregate Edith Zatapatique, who kept her survivors together and let each of them compose final messages to their families.

[Havear]

11th August 2034
Paulette Zatapatique-Bonald has completed research on the Pyrodyne Systems 10-ton launch system. She’s been reassigned to research a capacity 15 magazine for potential combat units. A design board is assembled to assess the possibility of warships and, more importantly, PDCs.

16th August 2034
The first Deng Xiaoping class freighter floats free of its moorings today. Capitaine de corvette Drederique Berthier gave a short speech as he came aboard, put the ship through a short cruise, and is expected to return for the first load out to Titan.

18th August
Offshore Horizon 4 finishes the gravitational survey of the Alpha Centauri system, locating a total of 4 jump points. A few days later Toyota successfully buys the rights to rename it.

23rd August
Paulette Zatapatique-Bonald completes research on the new magazines and starts work on miniaturizing UC’s launchers. While Havear doesn’t expect any benefits from this research chain for some time, it’s expected that a vessel packed full of miniature launchers could end a battle more economically than a traditional slugging match.

27th September
The 13th Mobile Infantry Battalion marks the first UC-raised combat force. Governments across the globe are well aware the danger giving UC too much power poses, but they’re unable to act due to strong positive sentiment by the populace. Unlike their local governments, the people see UC actually doing something to keep them safe.

17th January 2035
In line with Havear’s new direction on surveying, the first two Offshore Horizons have been fully scrapped and the EADS-Haier Space ‘yards have completed 50% of their planned expansion. It’s hoped that a new, larger survey vessel can be designed with an internal jump drive, to both minimize idle time waiting for a tender and to remove the possibility that the loss of a tender loses the ships assigned to it.

[Zook (OP)]

Warmonger! I protest the militarization of space.

[Havear]

I'm trying to keep the discussion in the other thread. Anyway, from Earth's perspective, we don't have much of a choice. All we know is that suddenly there's aliens in the galaxy and they blew up two unarmed ships without provocation... and then didn't scoop the lifepods. The blow-up back home in the various national governments was bad enough Zatapatique was forced out of office. (I take this more as he resigned to get out of the spotlight before another attack.) Havear's had to move toward developing at the very least some sort of means to protect Earth-based assets, but going beyond that into ensuring that spacers won't be trapped behind unpassable jump points and working toward sweeping the aliens from the system altogether is helping reinforce his nevertheless weak power base.

[Havear]

26th March 2035
The second Deng Xiaoping floats free of its drydock and joins its sister in delivering goods to Titan.

6th June 2035
The last two Offshore Horizons are scrapped. UC survey capability is now in a hiatus while the research into the next generation of shipping continues.

11th July 2035
The last veins of Boronide were mined out today by TerraFirma LLC., making it the third TN element that has been completely mined out.  Eventually it’s planned to mine out the asteroid belt and then Luna, especially since Luna contains over a million tons of Duranium at 0.8 accessibility.

28th August 2035
The 14th Mobile Infantry Battalion completed its training today. UC has tried to quell any premature fears by releasing the statement that “…we shall train a brigade of infantry to defend Terra’s people against any and all forms of aggression.” Several government analysts suspect that those battalions are primarily being built to provide security for UC personnel and assets in the event of a coup. In other news, Wong Heung-Soo, a mid-level official in the Japanese cabinet, was found dead. The case was quickly closed and the official statement explained his death was the result of an “…unexpected heart attack.”